Charles Darwin

Earlier this month, Joe Hanson published “A Very Special Thanksgiving” in which he imagined having dinner with a litany of great scientists, including Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Nikola Tesla, Isaac Newton, and Galileo. The result, unfortunately, is a sophomoric hash of bad jokes, annoying stereotypes and, to top it off, doll-on-doll sexual harassment, if not actual rape.

While Hanson has apologized, blogger Dr. Isis, who says she was “a female scientist before being a female scientist became so cool” took him to task, writing, in part:

In his non-apology, Hanson implies that this video was meant to be an over-the-top caricature of the challenges faced by women in science. He intended to use comedy as a device to highlight social injustice. The problem is that the behavior portrayed in the video is neither “outrageous,” nor does it reflect the “dark reality” of days gone by. It is a realistic portrayal of the types of interactions that women in science currently face. Not in 1913. Today in 2013.